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CG5 Set-Up Question

M4lcs67

By M4lcs67
in Discussions - Mounts

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Anweniel

Anweniel

Posted
Posted

Congrats Paul, as you saw from one of our observing sessions the mount is pretty sturdy and a good platform to observe and even image from. Not really the best example on the second night when it had a bit of a slewing wobbler!

Having thought about it I think its likely to have been mostly down to the battery being drained heavily by my laptop. Still learning in this hobby :icon_redface:

Have to agree about the motors being noisy, however the skywatcher alt-az was not exactly quiet and that is all I have had to compare it to.

Sure you'll be happy with the mount mate although still a little heavy to bring on your motorbike :D

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Northern Soul man

Northern Soul man

Posted
Posted

Nice 1 Barry missing the Cosford site mate the CPC's is a little noisy - need to balance a little better as when observing there's a little step when on high power - I've got a balance rail from my 8" which my Dad can adapt for the 11" - so alls well - hope ur ok mate - need some views through your set up mate. Paul

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The Sailor

The Sailor

Posted
Posted

Slighty off topic but still on the CG5, over the last year I have had my mount outside on a DIY tripod made of 2" scaffolding, the head covered by a green garden bag and bungee strap. I have been starting it up every few weeks and giving it a runout but with the festive season and the weather I have not done it for quite awhile, watching it get covered with snow and frost.

As I am now doing a reorganisation I brought the mount inside today and set it up for a run, all went well till it started slewing and seen the Dec was not moving, tried everything but to no avail, fed up. This evening a bulb lit up and I jumped up and raninto the kitchen, plugged it in and this time remembered to install the Dec cable :), all went well and worked perfectly, was so happy to hear the noisy old thing slew away to different targets. A good sturdy mount, I'm sure I will have a few years from it yet :), just thought I would share this on this thread :)

Jim

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MarkSix

MarkSix

Posted
Posted

I was knocked out by how solid and sturdy the CG5 is. Once the whole rig is set-up with the ota attached, nothing 'aint gonna shift it.

It gets even better if you replace the saddle with one of these http://www.firstlightoptics.com/adm-guidescope-rings-and-systems/adm-dual-saddle-upgrade-for-eq5-and-cg5-mounts.html

I'm actually amazed how good the tracking and the GOTO is. I was out a copule of times last week in -19C (-4F) with my scope and the GOTO's and the tracking were incredibly accurate despite the temperature.

The mount was all covered with frost after a couple of hours but it showed no problems at all. Well the LCD on the hand control didn't like the temperature, the characters were almost unreadble.

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  • 3 months later...
janesdsg

janesdsg

Posted
Posted

The CG5 does have a built-in polar alignment routine, but I chose to get a polarscope as well. Once I get a chance to get out with the scope on a regular basis, I should become well versed with all the little tweaks and short cuts I suppose. Hey. You never know. If I do become skilled enough with the use and alignment of it, then I may not need the new SkySense accessory. Maybe save myself £300 or whatever and put it towards getting a camera, so I can start using my scope to take astropictures?

Also with the fact that the StarSense isn't released in the UK until May, it will give me the chance to think about things more clearly and not go off half-cocked. If it was available right now I would have in all probably bought one straight away. And in May you are heading for Summer which is astro off season anyhow.

Lots more to think about......

How do I find the "built-in polar alignment routine"? I've got the polar finder scope set up now, but it would be useful to know where the built-in alignment routine is hiding.

Thanks.

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Northern Soul man

Northern Soul man

Posted
Posted

Hi Jane, welcome to the SGL - just had a look in the handbook that came with my cg5, not sure if you have the instructions or not - set the mount up LEVEL and roughly pointing to Polaris (making sure that the index marks on both axes line up) then basically perform a 2 star alignment as if you are setting up the mount for a nights observing, when the mount has finished aligning the second star, go back to the "Utilities" menu, scroll through untill you come to "Polar Align" hit "enter" and scrolll to "Align Mount" - the mount then slews to where Polaris "should" be, not done this myself, but when the mount stops near or on polaris - look through the eyepiece to see how far out the mount is from Polaris, you then have to centre Polaris in the eyepiece by adjusting THE LATITUDE AND RA ADJUSTMENTS (not using the direction buttons on the hand controller) actually the threaded bar and the adjuster bolts on the mount, when you have Polaris in the centre of the field on view in the eyepiece (you can use shorter focal length eyepieces one after the other, for better accuracy) then your done, finally press "enter" on the hand control - seems a bit of a long routine, but once you've done it a couple of times should become alot easier.

I just use my mount visually, to be honest, really accurate after doing a few calibration star slews - the mount was bang on for all the objects that I was looking for, hope that helps Jane, clear skies to you. Paul.

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janesdsg

janesdsg

Posted
Posted

Hi Jane, welcome to the SGL - just had a look in the handbook that came with my cg5, not sure if you have the instructions or not - set the mount up LEVEL and roughly pointing to Polaris (making sure that the index marks on both axes line up) then basically perform a 2 star alignment as if you are setting up the mount for a nights observing, when the mount has finished aligning the second star, go back to the "Utilities" menu, scroll through untill you come to "Polar Align" hit "enter" and scrolll to "Align Mount" - the mount then slews to where Polaris "should" be, not done this myself, but when the mount stops near or on polaris - look through the eyepiece to see how far out the mount is from Polaris, you then have to centre Polaris in the eyepiece by adjusting THE LATITUDE AND RA ADJUSTMENTS (not using the direction buttons on the hand controller) actually the threaded bar and the adjuster bolts on the mount, when you have Polaris in the centre of the field on view in the eyepiece (you can use shorter focal length eyepieces one after the other, for better accuracy) then your done, finally press "enter" on the hand control - seems a bit of a long routine, but once you've done it a couple of times should become alot easier.

I just use my mount visually, to be honest, really accurate after doing a few calibration star slews - the mount was bang on for all the objects that I was looking for, hope that helps Jane, clear skies to you. Paul.

Thanks, Paul, that's very clear (unlike the skies!). I've got the instruction manual but managed to miss the bit about the Utilities menu - found it now.

And getting that mount on a motorbike ... let me know when you've solved this and I can see if it'll work on my 650. I'm guessing the tripod legs will stick out a bit too far, though!

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